Child dies after hit by car at Kernersville bus stop

An 11-year-old boy died Wednesday morning after being hit by an SUV while trying to get on a school bus.

Hasani Wesley, 11, died after the collision, which happened around 7 a.m. on N.C. 66 near Shaddowfax Drive. N.C. 66 remained closed until around noon.

Wesley was trying to get on the bus just a few hundred feet from his home when the collision with the Jeep occurred, troopers said. The bus's lights were on, and the stop arm was out, troopers said.

The driver of the Jeep, Billy Roger Bailey, 47, of Kernersville, was coming from the opposite direction, troopers said. Bailey remained at the scene after the crash, troopers said.

Bailey will face charges, and the district attorney will determine which charges to file, troopers said.

Bailey told investigators that he simply didn't see the child crossing the road. He was driving the speed limit, and alcohol wasn't a factor in the crash either, troopers said.

Wesley normally caught the bus from the right-hand side of the road, but he missed it Wednesday morning, school officials said. The bus driver saw Wesley when coming back through the area and stopped to pick him up, which is legal, school officials said.

Wesley was a sixth grader at East Fosyth Middle School, said Theo Helm, spokesman for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Wesley had been taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center after the collision, Helm said.

Grief counselors were made available Monday morning for students and staff at East Forsyth Middle, and they will be made available again on Tuesday.